User blog:LexsJB/The thing about Fandom Users
Hello everyone, How are you? I’m good thanks but if you’re an unregistered user, you might not be very good by the end of the blog. Not many Fandom Users read blogs but this one is just here to notify everyone of the big thing that (kind of accidently) happened. Because I like essay blogs, I’m going to pad this one out a bit even though it doesn’t need it. If you don’t care and only want to know what I’m on about, feel free to skip most of it. You may notice lots of bold writing in this blog just to emphasise certain words. Background on the issue Firstly… 'What is an ‘unregistered user’?' Unregistered users are also known as Fandom Users or as they used to be called Wiki Contributors. If you haven’t signed up for an account with an email, you’re an unregistered user. In most wikis, Fandom Users can’t add photos, create articles, blog posts and other media. Signed in users have usernames and profile pictures and can create articles and add as many photos and videos as they want. 'Context on the issue' Well, over the past few months, a user called Aphrodite Sweetheart (who’s really good at doing templates so is probably experienced in this wiki stuff) pointed out that I should consider getting protection for the wiki, because she “saw me reverting many edits made by anonymous users", which is too true. I discussed it with another admin CoolStar1998 who said we should wait a bit to make a decision on preventing Fandom Users from editing. 'Why should I care?' This year especially, so many edits and comments have been done. I’ve reverted hundreds of useless edits made by Fandom Users. CoolStar and I have deleted hundreds of comments by the same Fandom User which led to me having to block about 2. I had to take a while off from caring about the wiki because I’d had enough of dealing with those types of comments. But, Fandom Users, why should you care? Well a couple of nights ago, I contacted the community central team (where all this advanced stuff happens where everyone can get help on wiki coding, adopting wikis etc) about getting wiki protection. All I wanted was to see if it was possible but this dude called Sean sent an email saying exactly, I quote, exactly “Hi, thanks for contacting Fandom. No problem! I have removed anonymous editing as you requested”. I didn’t request it YET. I only asked “is there a way?” because I needed a bit longer to think about it. But now it’s happened. =Lexs, you padded out the blog way too much. I can't be bothered to read all this. What are you on about?= The point Fandom Users/Wiki Contributors/Unregistered Users are not allowed to edit or comment on any page anymore. 'Why are you being so apologetic about this?' In real life, I’m a bit of a pushover and I don’t enjoy doing things that upset people, even if it’s a correct thing. Obviously not letting Fandom Users comment their mind and thoughts is gonna upset them so I feel a bit sorry for doing it, however, I guess I did want this eventually because the amount of young kids who spam comments has annoyed me to the limit. Being a wiki contributor once was probably the best thing in my life no jokes man. When I started out on the wiki (2012) I didn’t have an email so I was a really active contributor. Back then, the wiki was literally my life because I enjoyed writing about Rainbow Magic (and The Angels) every day of my summer holidays. I can’t imagine how I’d’ve felt if Fandom Users weren’t allowed to edit. I created an account in 2013. The best thing Fandom Users have done to the wiki during my time here has been either correcting spelling mistakes and grammar, or commenting actually efficient, useful comments on pages (and my blog posts (sounds kinda selfish soz)). The worst thing Fandom Users have done to the wiki is vandalise pages til they make no sense and post 10 million comments in an hour with a single word such as “yeah” or “I know” or holding down a key for ages. and this is really funny: some Fandom Users think they can fool you. They’d post a comment and then either reply to their own comment as a different person (probably to make themselves feel better about themself) or contradict themselves in different comment chains (can’t see the logic behind this one) and I don’t think they know we can see all the activity that happens on the wiki, so they think we think the comments have been posted on different days. 'For Fandom Users' If you’re a Fandom User, I’m sorry but both CoolStar and I have expressed annoyance at this. SIDE NOTE: IP addresses can be used to find out the general area where you come from like your state or providence or county (depends on which country you live in). Fandom Users’ IP addresses are not hidden like signed-in users’ are, so anyone could put that information AND the IP address together to stalk them if they really wanted to. And anyway, if you’re a Fandom User, it’s not the end of the world! You can always sign up for an account with an email (or at least with a parent’s email. Whatever makes you happy) but i know some parents may not let you create an account at your age (but seeing 8-year-olds having instagram accounts, it’s probable that they don’t care nowadays. If anything, it benefits EVERYONE in the community as we know who has done which edit AND you can create blog posts, articles and add images. I hope this explained why you’re not allowed to edit or comment (or why it’s been so quiet on the wiki). Thank you for reading. Have a good weekend! (I typed this on a Word document and it’s 3 pages long.) LexsJBTalk 19:14, March 4, 2017 (UTC) Category:Blog posts